1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates generally to simplifying generating software code, and more specifically to a method and apparatus for simplifying generation of device drivers for different user systems to facilitate communication with a hardware device.
2. Related Art
A device driver generally refers to a software code (group of software instructions), which enables a user system (e.g., a computer system) to interface with a hardware device (e.g., a printer, a modem, etc.). The device driver provides appropriate interfaces enabling various software modules (e.g., user applications, operating system components, etc.) executing in the user system (or hardware components in the user system) to communicate with and/or to control the hardware device.
Device driver code is different for different user systems generally due to differences in hardware and software characteristics among user systems. For example, different operating systems (or its absence) may require different software codes for operation as a device driver in the corresponding user systems. Similarly, having different hardware (devices, registers, etc.) characteristics may also require different software codes.
Given the large number of combinations of different user systems and operating environments (hardware and software characteristics), it is generally desirable that an efficient approach be provided to generate device drivers for different user systems to facilitate communication with a given hardware device.
In the drawings, like reference numbers generally indicate identical, functionally similar, and/or structurally similar elements. The drawing in which an element first appears is indicated by the leftmost digit(s) in the corresponding reference number.